Personal History Question 25 is, “Who taught you how to drive?” That was all my dad. My mom was too nervous. It really did not take too long. I remember he took me to a parking lot somewhere near the house. He made me practice all the usual stuff, especially a 3 point turn. After the 3rd or 4th time, he let me drive home. He would let me drive to the bus stop, and to the store (with him in the car of course, and I did have my permit) and such. I failed my license the first time because my tire rubbed the curb when I parked. I…

Personal History Question 24 is, “Did you move as a child?” Oh yes. A lot. It sucked at the time. Looking back, however, I see that it brought wonderful opportunities and afforded me some wonderful friendships that I have still to this day. I was little the first time we moved. It was new and exciting. Then the second time we moved, I was going to get to be near my dad’s family. I was so happy! And it was wonderful! Then we moved to a small town in PA where I knew no one and I wanted to hate it, but couldn’t. I loved the place. School was a…

Personal Question 23 is, “Who was your favorite teacher as a child?” I had 3 that come to mind. One was my 2nd grade teacher from Henry T. Wing Elementary School in Sandwich, MA. Her name is Ms. Vagenas. She was awesome. I even kept in touch with her for a year or two after we moved away. My 3rd grade teacher from Rowlesburg School, Ms. Conklin, was another. That woman was a ray of sunshine, and she made going to school a pleasure. Then, in my middle and high school years there were LOTS that I loved. But, my favorite remains Mrs. MacDonald from Dartmouth High School. She put…

Personal History Question 22 is, “What was your favorite subject in school?” Science. I love anything to do with science. And History. I had some really great teachers for those classes, and that helped further the love of the subject, for sure.

Personal History Question 21 is, “Write about your early school memories.” I had a love/hate relationship with school. First off, looking back, I now know that what plagued me, was anxiety. It all started in 1st grade math class with Mrs. Bianchi. She was about 100 years old (I am so not kidding…) and she called me out in front of the whole class because I used my fingers to count. And when I say called me out, I mean ridiculed… I have thought about this a lot over the years. She simply could have asked me to attempt what I was doing without using my fingers. Instead, she made…

Personal History Question 20 is, “Write about your cousins.” Well, I spent time first around my maternal cousins. They were all older than me. I had one that was maybe 2 years older than me. I was the youngest. I have nice memories of all of them. But, we basically only ever saw each other on the holidays. My paternal cousins, I would see on visits to Baltimore. When we moved to West Virginia, my aunt moved there a short time later and I actually got to have day-to-day interactions with them. My cousin K and I spent a LOT of time together. He became one of my favorite people…

Personal History Question 19 is, “Write about your uncles.” My dad did not have any brothers. My uncles on his side of the family consisted of HIS uncles. There was my Uncle Lonnie, Uncle Lee, Uncle Dutch, Uncle Bob, Uncle Johnny, Uncle Al.. These were my Nanny’s brothers. My Uncle Al died from cancer when I was 8. I was not close to my Uncle Johnny or my Uncle Bob, although we saw Bob and his family more often then Johnny. I was very very close to my Uncle Lonnie and my Uncle Dutch. I saw Uncle Lee pretty regularly until his passing when I was 13, but we weren’t…

Personal History Question 18 is, “Write about your aunts.” I have one aunt on my mom’s side, my Aunty N. On my Dad’s side there is my Aunt S and my Aunt C. I had a lot of great aunts, and even a couple of faunties. (fake aunties lol. No relation, but close friends of the my parents, and I always referred to them as aunty. I had a couple Nana’s too. <3 ) My Aunty N is warm and kind. She carries herself well, and is always ‘put together’ … her hair is always nice, she dresses well, she always kept a nice home. She always smells real nice,…

Personal History Question 17 is, “Write about your grandparents.” My maternal and paternal grandparents could not have been any more different! My mom’s parents were older. They were divorced. And they could not be in the same room together. So, one year my Gram would come to Thanksgiving, and we would bring my Grandpa a plate. The next year it was the opposite. My Gram always went to our Christmas Eve shindigs, and we would see my Grandpa on Christmas Day. I remember the one time she came to our house when my Grandpa was there, sitting at the kitchen table. She had something she REALLY wanted to tell my…

Personal History Question 16 is, “What world events were significant to you as a child? Hm. The few that stick out are Elvis dying, John Lennon’s assassination, and I remember something about a young American girl writing a letter to a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, in 1982, I think. She got tons of attention. I remember being mad about it because before she did that, I had told my parents that I was going to write a letter to President Reagan to plead with him to stop this scary nonsense. LOL I remember hearing about AIDS, and the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in FL was hit…